The Thing that Melts
"It stinks..."
The ruins are quite deep.
"It looks like all the walls are ceramic."
"Hmm... So this is the same facility as the Geldarinne ruins?"
"I don’t know about that."
"Your Majesty, I can see a light in the back."
There is a hall in the back, and luminous stones are buried in the ceiling without any gaps.
"Too cruel..."
There was a pile of corpses
Arms and legs are shackled and are hung with chains.
And everything was half melted.
"I don't see any major trauma."
"Is this the cause of the death smell... hey, don't touch the dead body!"
"Eh? Uwa!"
One of the soldiers carelessly touches the corpse.
"Hurry up and take off the gauntlet!"
"Uwa, uwa!"
The back of the hand that touches it melts away from the fingertips.
Apparently, he took it off before the skin eroded.
"Watch out, idiot!"
"I-I'm sorry."
What we see here is a corpse covered in liquid that instantly reacts with metal and melts it.
"Don't touch them carelessly."
"Yeah... hmm?"
"What's wrong?"
"Your Majesty, what is that?"
There is only one different corpse.
Melted but not shackled
A corpse still holding something in its arms
"A silver box?"
"Be careful, okay?"
"Okay, someone please bring me some water!"
We sprinkle water on the box along with the corpse to flush out the acid.
"Whoa!"
"Gas!"
Everyone quickly put on their gas masks.
The unidentified acid reacted with the water and began emitting white smoke.
"...It's okay. It's not toxic, and the hydrogen index is safe."
"You scared me."
Then I was finally able to take out the silver box.
"Your Majesty, shouldn’t we do the confirmation outside?"
"Really?"
"That's right"
"Then shall we do that?"
We left the interior to some soldiers and checked the box with the company commander.
"Isn't it iron?"
"Isn't it too shiny for iron? It's also puzzling that it didn't react to acid at all."
"It's not silver... isn't it?"
"It looks quite hard compared to silver, but..."
The box is locked
Professional soldiers are trying to open the lock using tools.
"I don’t think it’s from this continent."
"I don’t think it will ever be possible."
Could it be a metal that existed before the Kingdom of Selmesia discovered it?
No, I doubt whether Selmesia even knew about these ruins in the first place.
"It's open."
"That was fast."
"The lock itself had a simple structure."
I see
But what I'm interested in now is the content.
The soldier who unlocked the box opens it.
The contents are...
"A glass disc?"
"...No, this looks like crystal?"
"What's the difference?"
"Is it where the light appears to bend?"
"Hmm, if you say so, it certainly looks distorted."
If I take it out and remove the tip like a lens, I can't see clearly like glass.
However, I have some doubts about the way it looks.
"Your Majesty?"
"Someone bring me a soft cloth. One that's free of dust, dirt, and moisture."
I carefully wrap it with the cloth the soldier brought and return it to the box.
"I'll ask Ginkei-sama to analyze it."
"Did you see something?"
"I don't know what it is, but I feel like there's a law in the way the light bends. There's some trick to it."
At the same time as I handed the box to the soldier
"Retreat! Retreat!"
All the soldiers who were investigating the inside of the ruins rushed out.
"What's wrong!"
"Company Commander! Your Majesty, please run away quickly!"
Liquid approaches from behind the soldiers.
Like crawling on the ground
However, it does not spread evenly around the surrounding area.
It was coming towards the soldiers.
"Slime!"
"Retreat!"
The soldiers rain bullets on it, but of course, it has no effect.
So I use magic to shoot out fire bullets.
"Did it go back?"
"This slime has a will. Everyone retreat!"
As we move away from the ruins, the slime appears.
It was too huge to be called a slime, and it was a godlike monster that shone in gold.
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